Tag Archives: Zuda

The winds of change have been blowing in Zuda’s direction ever since the competition site decided to drop the competing clause and just become a home for digital creators. Then, DC Comics announced a digital initiative that would see their comics appear on the PSP, PSN, iPhone, iTouch, and iPad. This change seems to have whipped up a hurricane that has decimated the ZudaComics.com domain itself, which will now be shuttered.

It’s still unclear as to which comics will survive this swath of destruction, though you can bet the award winners will make the move. One comic that won’t be migrating to greener (alternate?) pastures is Brock Heasley’s Monsterplex, the winner of the February competition. The following thread explains loosely why, including the heart-breaking reaction to the news straight from someone directly affected by the culling:

Sure, most of the winners have found great success from the DC bump, but ask any of the other nine competitors in any given Zuda month and they’ll likely tell you the same thing: the system is flawed. Some of the winners would possibly say likewise. No voting system is perfect, of course; the United States alone is proof of that. But when something as important and possibly career-altering as a shot at a short-term comics deal hangs in the balance, the process to gain that prize should be a fair and balanced one (suck it, Fox News).

It’s not surprising, then, that the announcement came today via Zuda head honcho Ron Perazza that the oft-maligned comics contest would be ditching the democratic process for one with far less yeas and nays. Via the Zuda blog, The Collective, Perazza noted that, while Zuda has had an amazing crop of winners come through the ranks, it has let just as many potential superstars slip through the cracks. It doesn’t seem clear just what the new Zuda will entail, but rest assured Digital Strips will be there to cover this shift in the way a major player dips into the webcomics pool of talent.

Here are just a smattering of the tweets posted thus far from industry folks, almost universally praising the coming changes:

brockheasley (Brock Heasley, The Superfogeys: Looking forward to seeing what this means for the future of #Zuda . Could be very exciting!

The new contestants for Zuda went up this morning, and Webcomics are representin’ in this battle of the webcomic heavyweights!

Both Brock Heasley (The Superfogeys) and Ryan Estrada (every other webcomic on the ‘Net, including a previous Zuda entry) are competitors in this month’s Zuda contest, so I’ll be keeping an extra critical eye on the way things play out. Best of luck to both these talented fellows and stay tuned for our ZudaWatch podcast on these and all the contestants in the 02.10 competition, coming soon!